A good romance
novel is not boring. If you want to hold your
reader's interest, your story must have conflict, and lots of
it. Conflict is what drives the plot. A good romance novel shows
the process of the hero and heroine learning respect and trust
for one another so that they may finally arrive at the point
where they are deeply in love. Does it sound simple? Well, it
is. And, then again, it isn't. Hopefully the following steps
will assist you in understanding the process:
The steps to love are:
- Conflict
- Respect
- Trust
- Love
Conflict:
This is a clashing and meshing. There are two things that keep
the hero and heroine from each other:
- Internal Conflict – this is a romantic clashing from
within the hero/heroine
- External Conflict – this is a non-romantic conflict
from without
You need believable motivation behind both internal and external
conflict! The stakes need to be high. Make it serious to the
point that love seems absolutely impossible under the circumstances.
Also, love should be the last thing on your hero and heroine's
minds as they embark on their quest to complete their goal.
In the beginning, love is a nuisance. Your hero and heroine
are too busy trying to obtain their goal to want to focus on
falling in love. But it happens to them regardless. In the end,
love becomes an unexpected surprise your hero and heroine cannot
resist.
Respect:
This is acceptance, recognition, and appreciation the heroine
has for the hero’s qualities, and vice-versa. Respect
occurs when the hero and heroine start to 'see' the good side
of each other. You want to 'show' your reader this process of
respect growth. NOTE: They don’t have to respect each
other at the same time. Spread this throughout your book. This
gives more scenes to progress your story and helps build to
love.
Trust:
This is the opening up of self to deeper emotions. (Deep, dark
secrets that haven’t been told to others and possibly
not even admitted to self.) The hero and heroine have to open
up to betrayal by exposing themselves to each other.
The hero and heroine need to SHOW their trust, not tell it!
NOTE: Spend a lot of time developing this trust over many scenes.
This progresses the plot/story line. (Great plot builders!)
Trust is the ultimate risk. Only a person capable of trust is
capable of love. Trust shows that the hero and heroine are now
ABLE to move on to love.
Backsliding is allowed. This shows growth, then digression,
then trust building again. This is what turning points and black
moments are for.
Love:
The hero and heroine must first acknowledge their love to themselves
individually. Then, they have to demonstrate this love through
sacrifice. What do they give up or what are they ‘willing’
to give up? SHOW this sacrifice, don’t tell it. (Maybe
they don’t actually end up giving it up, but they are
clearly prepared to do so. Example: A hero is willing to trade
his life for the heroine.) This is the Big Black Moment in your
story, and it has to be serious. Giving up a ham and cheese
sandwich is not going to cut it. The hero/heroine must be willing
to give up whatever is most important to them because they have
changed, grown, evolved, and finally realize their love is more
important than anything else in the world.
Usually what is given up is a way of thinking, which opens
a new view of the world to the person who has changed…remember
‘growth’. The hero and heroine give up whatever
kept them each from loving. This makes for a great ending to
your story.
Again, the journey to love should be uncomfortable for your
hero and heroine. It should be all about growth and self-discovery
where your protagonists discover they can change. Where they
learn to love someone else more than themselves, which truly
is unconditional love. |
